Don't Let the Nargles Get You Down
by projectrunwayluver
Summary: When Harry first meets Luna Lovegood he thinks she's as mad as everyone says she is. But what happens when they get to know each other and become closer during the D.A. meetings? Will Harry let himself love the one woman who understands him or pull away and hide his feelings? Read and find out! AU. Sorry no lemons! Order of the Phoenix to Deathly Hallows.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I have been thinking about having a Harry and Luna pairing for a story for a long time and it seems that I'm finally getting around to writing it. I don't really know how often I'll be able to update all my stories since I have quite a few going at the moment but I will do my best. Now on a little side note I want to let you all know that if you have any ideas, constructive criticism, or anything else I try to use your ideas as much as possible and if I do use one I will give you the credit for it. Once again anything you recognize is JK Rowling's and anything you don't is mine.**

 **_Harry POV_**

I watched as Ron and Hermione walked down the length of the train talking quietly. My hands curled into fists and I slowly let out a heavy breath. They were going to the first prefect meeting in one of the compartments at the front of the carriage.

"Come on," Ginny said craning her neck, "if we get a move on we'll be able to save them places."

"Right,'" I said, picking up Hedwig's cage in one hand and the handle of my trunk in the other. We struggled off down the corridor, peering through the glass-paneled doors into the compartments we passed, which were already full. I could not help noticing that a lot of people stared back at me with great interest and that several of them nudged their neighbors and pointed at me. What in the world? I hadn't been scrutinized like this since my first year. It took me a moment what the Daily Prophet had been writing about me and Dumbledore.

Ginny glared at a second year student who was staring at me unabashedly. "If you have something to say then say it or move." The boy gave a squeak and darted into a compartment.

"You didn't have to do that," I said, dropping my trunk on my foot. I winced but didn't curse.

In the very last carriage we met Neville Longbottom, one of my fellow fifth-year Gryffindors, his round face shining with the effort of pulling his trunk along and maintaining a one handed grip on his struggling toad, Trevor. That toad was more trouble than he was worth.

"Hi, Harry," he panted. "Hi, Ginny… every where's full… I can't find a seat…"

"What are you talking about?" Ginny said, who had squeezed past Neville to peer into the compartment behind him. "There's room in this one, there's only Loony Lovegood in here —'

Neville mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone. Loony Lovegood? I really hoped that wasn't her first name.

"Don't be silly," Ginny said, laughing, "she's all right."

She slid the door open and pulled her trunk inside. Neville and I followed exchanging a glance.

"Hi, Luna," Ginny said, "is it okay if we take these seats?"

The girl beside the window looked up. She had straggly, waist-length, dirty blonde hair, very pale eyebrows and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. I knew at once why Neville had chosen to pass this compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of distinct dottiness. Perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of Butterbeer corks, or that she was reading a magazine upside-down. Her eyes ranged over Neville and came to rest on me after a moment. She stared at me for a very long moment and I felt like I was being x-rayed.

She nodded.

"Thanks," Ginny said, smiling at her.

Neville and I stowed the three trunks and Hedwig's cage in the luggage rack and sat down. I was surprised to see that Neville had handled the trunk with ease even though I had barely been able to lift it. Luna watched us over her upside-down magazine, which was called _The Quibbler_. She did not seem to need to blink as much as normal humans. She stared and stared at me without blinking and I was really wishing I could trade places with Neville. Luna Lovegood made me very nervous for some reason.

"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked, after a very awkward silence.

"Yes," Luna said dreamily, without taking her eyes off of me. I shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. _You're_ Harry Potter," she added.

"I know I am," I said slowly. Luna continued to watch me closely and for some reason I couldn't look away.

Neville chuckled. Luna turned her pale eyes on him instead. "And I don't know who you are."

"I'm nobody," Neville said hurriedly with a startled look.

"No you're not," Ginny said sharply stepping on his foot hard. "Neville Longbottom — Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."

"Wit _beyond measure is man's greatest treasure_ ," said Luna in a singsong voice.

She raised her upside-down magazine high enough to hide her face and fell silent. Neville and I looked at each other with our eyebrows raised. Ginny suppressed a giggle. The train rattled onwards, speeding them out into open country. It was an odd, unsettled sort of day; one moment the carriage was full of sunlight and the next they were passing beneath ominously gray clouds.

"Guess what I got for my birthday?" said Neville.

"Another Remembrall?" I guessed, remembering the marble-like device Neville's grandmother had sent him in an effort to improve his abysmal memory.

"No," said Neville. "I could do with one, though, I lost the old one ages ago… no, look at this…"

He dug the hand that was not keeping a firm grip on Trevor into his schoolbag and after a little bit of rummaging pulled out what appeared to be a small gray cactus in a pot, except that it was covered with what looked like boils rather than spines.

" _Mimbulus mimbletonia_ ," he said proudly.

I stared at the thing. It was pulsating slightly, giving it the rather sinister look of some diseased internal organ. It was rather disgusting, honestly, and I didn't want to see what this plant could do.

"It's really, really rare," said Neville, beaming. "I don't know it there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My Great Uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed from it."

It was common knowledge that Neville's favorite subject was Herbology but for the life of him he could not see what he would want with this stunted little plant.

"Does it — er — do anything?" I asked hesitantly.

"Loads of stuff!" Neville said proudly his eyes shining. "It's got an amazing defensive mechanism. Here, hold Trevor for me…"

He dumped the toad into my lap and took a quill from his schoolbag. Luna Lovegood's popping eyes appeared over the top of her upside-down magazine again, to watch what Neville was doing. Neville held the _Mimbulus mimbletonia_ up to his eyes, his tongue between his teeth, chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill.

Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant; thick, stinking, dark green jets of it. They hit the

ceiling, the windows, and spattered Luna Lovegood's magazine; Ginny, who had flung her arms up in front of her face just in time, merely looked as though she was wearing a slimy green hat, but Harry, whose hands had been busy preventing Trevor's escape, received a faceful. It smelled like rancid manure.

Neville, whose face and torso were also drenched, shook his head to get the worst out of his eyes.

"S — sorry," he gasped. 'I haven't tried that before… didn't realize it would be quite so… don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous,' he added nervously, as Harry spat a mouthful on to the floor.

At that precise moment the door of their compartment slid open.

"Oh… hello, Harry," said a nervous voice. "Urn… bad time?"

I wiped the lenses of his glasses with my Trevor-free hand. A very pretty girl with long, shiny black hair was standing in the doorway smiling at him: Cho Chang, the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. My heart thumped oddly in my chest.

"Oh… hi," I said blankly.

"Erm…" said Cho. "Well… just thought I'd say hello… bye then."

Rather pink in the face, she closed the door and departed. I slumped back in my seat and

groaned. I would have liked Cho to discover me sitting with a group of very cool people laughing their heads off at a joke he had just told; he would not have chosen to be sitting with Neville and Loony Lovegood, clutching a toad and dripping in Stinksap.

"Never mind," Ginny said bracingly. "Look, we can easily get rid of all this." She pulled out her wand and waved it. " _Scourgify_!"

The Stinksap vanished.

"I don't like that girl much," Luna said staring at the doorway a small frown on her face.

"What? Why?" I asked angrily, wanting to defend Cho.

"Because she and her friends make fun of me the most out of everyone in the school." And then Luna slipped back behind her magazine and continued to read as if nothing had happened.

"What do they do?" Ginny asked hesitantly.

"Steal my shoes, dye my hair, mock me." Luna shrugged and slowly lowered the magazine. "You get used to it all after awhile."

"Why would they do that?" Neville asked looking shocked.

"People are scared of they don't understand and I'm different." Luna said simply curling up on her seat like a cat and continued to read the magazine. I blinked quickly, Cho wouldn't be that mean, she couldn't be... because if she was... then she was no better than Malfoy.

 **AN: Please Review! It helps so much more than you realize. Reviews make me happy and when I'm happy I think about the story more. The more I think about it the more I create new twists and turns for the story and I end up updating more. Which in the end makes everyone happy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Good afternoon everyone and happy Thursday. Things have been hectic at work and at home this week and in life in general but I hope to update more in the future. I have a pretty bad cold but I hope it will be gone by Monday but we'll see what happens. Once again anything you recognize is JK Rowling's and anything you don't is mine.**

 _ **Luna POV**_

I ignored the other Gryffindors and continued to read the Quibbler. It was hard to read while the others talked and ate the food off the trolley but I really wanted to figure out how to turn my enemy's ears into kumquats. I wanted to try it on Cho Chang. She was mean, it had been only one time I had caught her at it but she stole one of my sets of shoes and a necklace.

The door to the compartment opened and two people walked in. The boy was tall, very tall, and redhead with a nose that was slightly too big for his face. He was kind of scrawny and had bright blue eyes and seemed to be completely covered with freckles. I knew exactly who he was even though I had never spoken to him before. Ron Weasley. He set an owl cage on the floor that was hooting shrilly.

The girl was different, she was short and skinny and holding a cat carrier. She had bushy brown hair and matching brown eyes that seemed rather flat and boring. My opinion changed the moment her eyes locked on Neville Longbottom. The flatness of her eyes was completely replaced by a strange warmth. It took me a moment to realize what that warmth was... ohhhh...

I quickly turned to look at Neville but he didn't seem to notice that Hermione Granger was all but in love with him. When she realized that Neville hadn't even looked up from the Chocolate Frog Card he was reading over her shoulders slumped and the warmth all but vanished.

I winced as she sat down next to me her shoulders thrown back, a determined look on her face. My eyes caught Harry's and he was looking between Hermione and Neville, a frown on his face. I quickly caught his eye and discretely pressed my finger to my lips.

Ron sat down next to Harry, breaking our eye contact, and snatched a Chocolate Frog from the table and quickly ripped it open.

"I'm starving!" He said shoving the frog into his mouth. I frowned and turned back to my magazine. It was when I was halfway through one of the runes when I felt it, someone's eyes on me. I looked up slowly trying not to grimace. It was Harry. His eyes kept flicking to me. Our eyes met for a moment and I stiffened in shock my heart pounding in my chest. He smiled tentatively and I blinked owlishly feeling my cheeks warm. I quickly blurted out the first thing that popped into my head.

"You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil," I said letting my eyes rest on Ron.

Everyone turned to look at me and it made me feel warm. I ignored them and made my eyes stay on Ron. He quickly chewed something and swallowed.

"Yeah, I know I did," he said, looking mildly surprised. My heart was still pounding loudly in my chest.

"She didn't enjoy it very much," I said quickly. "She doesn't think you treated her very

well, because you wouldn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have minded," I added thoughtfully, after a moment. Yes, my heart was finally getting back to normal and I sighed. "I don't like dancing very much."

I quickly retreated behind The Quibbler before I could lock eyes with Harry again. The others were snickering but I ignored them trying to get back into the Runes. I had only been in the Ancient Runes class for a year. This was much harder than what I had learned from Professor Babbling. I was frowning over one of the runes when I tuned into what the others were saying.

"I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," Ron said happily. He lowered his voice to a low grunting sound and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. "I… must… not… look…like… a… baboon's… backside."

Everyone laughed, but nobody laughed harder than I did. I had accidentally let out a scream of mirth that caused a snowy owl to wake up and flap her wings indignantly and a ginger cat to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. I laughed so hard the Quibbler slipped out of my grasp, slid down my legs and on to the floor.

"That was funny!" I gasped trying to control my laughter.

My eyes swam with tears as I gasped for breath, staring at Ron. Utterly nonplussed, he looked around at the others, who were now laughing at the expression on Ron's face and at my prolonged laughter.

"Are you taking the mickey?" Ron said, frowning at me. I ignored him and wiped away a tear.

"Baboon's… backside!" I said giggling.

Ginny was giggling, Neville looked nonplussed, Hermione blinked quickly frowning and Harry had a small smile twitching his lips. I moved my foot slightly and stiffened when it brushed against Harry's shoe. His eyes snapped to our feet and he tilted his head to the side a small frown on his face.

"Can I have a look at this?" He asked eagerly. I nodded and almost gasped when Harry grazed his hand against the top of my naked foot. It was deliberate.

I blinked owlishly while Harry flipped through the Quibbler. My eyes slid to the snowy owl that kept fluttering her wings. She seemed to disapprove of loud noises and I was unfortunately loud. I was still trying to control my giggling.

"Anything good in there?" Ron asked as Harry closed the magazine.

"Of course not," Hermione said scathingly, before Harry could answer. "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."

I stiffened and all but snarled.

"Excuse me," I snapped darkly. "My father's the editor."

"I - oh," Hermione started, looking embarrassed. "Well… it's got some interesting… I mean, it's quite…"

"I'll have it back, thank you," I said coldly, and leaning forwards I snatched the magazine out of Harry's hands. His eyes were apologetic but I ignored him and raised the Quibbler to hide the Boy Who Lived and his friends from view.

 **AN: Please Review! It helps so much more than you realize. Reviews make me happy and when I'm happy I think about the story more. The more I think about it the more I create new twists and turns for the story and I end up updating more. Which in the makes everyone happy.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Good afternoon everyone and happy Wednesday. I am very sorry for not updating sooner but I have been reading a lot more and when that happens my writing usually takes a back seat. I'll try to find a better balance so that I'll be able to update all of my stories more. So today is June 8, 2016 and this is the first chapter today. Once again anything you recognize is JK Rowling's and anything you don't is mine.**

 _ **Luna POV**_

I was just about to crack one of the Ancient Runes when the compartment door opened for a third time. More than anything I wanted to continue with my reading but I knew I couldn't, not with all these interruptions. I sighed and slowly lowered the Quibbler.

A mean looking blond fifth year with two big burly cronies stood in the doorway. I only knew him in passing, never having spoken to him, but I knew the other girls from my house had sighed and simpered over Draco Malfoy more than once. The mean girl from two years ahead me, what had Harry called her? Cho, she had sighed and simpered over the boy like a cat in heat.

"What?" Harry asked aggressively, before Draco Malfoy could open his mouth. I flinched back at the sharp tone of his voice.

"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," Draco Malfoy, whose sleek blond hair and pointed chin looked rather disturbing on a teenager. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"Yeah," Harry said his eyes flashing, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and I laughed. Draco Malfoy's lip curled.

"Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?" he asked.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Hermione snapped her eyes flashing. Draco Malfoy's eyes slowly perused her and she flushed.

"I seem to have touched a nerve," Draco Malfoy said, smirking. "Well, just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be _dogging_ your footsteps in case you step out of line."

"Get out!" Hermione all but shrieked standing up and pointed towards the door.

Sniggering, Draco Malfoy gave Harry a last malicious look and departed, with the two large Slytherins lumbering along in his wake. Hermione slammed the compartment door behind them and turned to look at Harry. I frowned at the look they exchanged and saw that it hadn't escaped Neville's eyes either. He was frowning and started to open his mouth but I quickly shook my head. He frowned but stayed silent.

"Chuck us another Frog," Ron said, who had clearly noticed nothing.

Harry threw a Chocolate Frog at Ron, exchanged another nervous look with Hermione, and then stared out of the window.

I blinked slowly and pulled out the Quibbler once more.

The weather remained undecided as they travelled further and further north. Rain spattered the windows in a half-hearted way, then the sun put in a feeble appearance before clouds drifted over it once more. When darkness fell and lamps came on inside the carriages, I rolled up _The Quibbler_ , put it carefully away in my bright yellow bag and took to staring at everyone in the compartment instead.

Harry was sitting with his forehead pressed against the train window, Neville was staring at his plant, Ron was eating another Frog, Hermione was hidden behind a large tome and Ginny was leaning back in her seat frowning slightly. Hmmm something was bothering her.

"We'd better change," Hermione said ten minutes later, and we each opened our trunks in turn and pulled on our school robes. Hermione and Ron pinned their prefect badges carefully to their chests.

At last, the train began to slow down and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready to get off. As Ron and Hermione were supposed to supervise all this, they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving Harry, myself and the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon.

"I'll carry that owl, if you like," I said to Harry, reaching out for Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed Trevor carefully in an inside pocket.

"Oh thanks Luna," he said smiling brightly, handing me the cage and hoisting the beautiful snowy owl more securely into his arms.

We shuffled out of the compartment feeling the first sting of the night air on their faces as they joined the crowd in the corridor. Slowly, we moved towards the doors. I could smell the pine trees that lined the path down to the lake. I stepped down on to the platform and looked around, listening for the familiar call of "firs'-years over 'ere… firs'-years…"

But it did not come. Instead, a quite different voice, a brisk female one, was calling out, "First years line up over here, please! All first-years to me!"

A lantern came swinging towards Harry and by its light he saw the prominent chin and severe haircut of Professor Grubbly-Plank, the witch who had taken over Professor Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures lessons for a while the previous year. I had loved her classes and enjoyed them immensely.

"Where's Hagrid?' Harry said loudly looking around quickly his face pale.

"I don't know," Ginny said, "but we'd better get out of the way, we're blocking the door."

"Oh, yeah…" Harry muttered not moving. I lightly slipped my hand into his and he started, jumping so hard a few passing third years sniggered. Harry's green eyes locked on mine for one long moment before turning towards the Thestral-pulled carriage his hand still twined with mine.

 **AN: Please Review! It helps so much more than you realize. Reviews help me create a story that everyone loves. And the only way to make sure I know you all like it is with reviews telling me what you think, what you love and hate about it. Also any ideas you have would be greatly appreciated and I would give you credit if I used your idea in the Author's Note. Seriously guys every little bit helps** **.**


	4. Chapter 4

****AN: Good evening everyone and happy Thursday. I hope you all have been having a wonderful summer so far and that you have been drinking plenty of water. So I hope to update all of my stories more but since it's summer I travel quite a bit and there is usually no internet. Now on a little side note I wanted to let you all know that I have started a new story, it's the Hunger Games from Peeta's perspective so please check it out when you can. So today is August 4, 1016 and this is the first chapter today. Once again anything you recognize is JK Rowling's and anything you don't is mine.****

 _ **Luna POV**_

I knew the exact moment Harry saw the Thestral pulling the nearest carriage. His whole body froze and his green eyes bulged. I tugged lightly on his arm to keep him moving towards the carriage. He stumbled and tightened his hand around mine.

"Where's Pig?" Ron said from behind us. In answer I lifted the hand that Harry wasn't holding and smiled as the little owl inside zoomed around and tweeted happily.

"He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?" I said with a smile. Harry gave me a bemused smile and Ron looked at me like I had a second head (which was how most people looked at me).

"Yeah, uh, sure." Ron said looking around, a frown on his face. "Where do you reckon —"

"Hagrid is? No clue." Harry said frowning. I started to say that maybe he had gotten hurt but Hermione Granger cut me off. She was glowering as she stomped between Harry and Ron muttering darkly under her breath.

"What's got her knickers in a twist?" Ron said blinking owlishly after the girl.

"Don't! Ronald, just don't." Hermione growled as we climbed after her into the carriage. She was sitting cross-legged on the seat her chin resting on her hand. Ginny was sitting across from her, biting her lip so hard it was white.

"Uh..." It seemed that no one knew what to say. In fact no one said anything until Neville stumbled into the carriage a moment later sporting a bloody lip and a black eye.

I gaped staring at him. "Merlin's saggy —"

"Ronald!" Hermione snapped not even bothering to look at him. Her eyes were too busy roving over Neville her lip trembling. "Neville... what — what did you do?"

"You know what I did, the little shit deserved it for calling you a — a — Mudblood whore and asking if you liked it rough," he said darkly wiping his lip with his sleeve, smearing it with blood. Ron's face turned purple and he began to get up but Ginny pulled him roughly back down.

"We'll deal with him later," Harry growled his eyes almost red. I blinked owlishly and turned back to Hermione, who was trying to unobtrusively wipe her watering eyes with her sleeve.

"Thank you," she said her voice wobbling. "But you know I don't like violence."

"You don't need to thank me and he deserves more than a broken nose for it." Neville said gruffly moving to sit on the bench next to Hermione. I continued to stare at Hermione who was shaking and felt my eyes go wide when she leaned her head against Neville's shoulder. Neville looked down at Hermione, a serious look on his face before resting his head on top of hers.

"So how about those Holyhead Harpies? Did anyone catch the last game against the Chudley Cannons?" Harry asked a mischievous smile crossing his face.

 _ **Harry POV**_

I could feel Luna staring at me while Ron and Ginny talked about their favorite teams. More than anything I wanted to lose myself in the conversation about Quidditch but I couldn't concentrate. Not when _she_ was staring at me.

I slowly turned to look at Luna who was staring at me intently. Her head tilted to the side and her eyebrows were drawn together and her lips pursed. She almost looked angry but that couldn't have been it, Luna didn't seem to have an angry bone in her body. Did that mean she was concentrating really hard on something?

I raised my eyebrow in question and she blinked three times before lifting her chin towards where Hermione and Neville were sitting. My eyes flicked over there and I watched as Hermione rubbed her hand up and down Neville's arm, as if _she_ was comforting _him_. I frowned in confusion and turned back to Luna. She dropped her head, her mouth curling into a smile.

I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face as I leaned back in my seat. But something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention: The creature pulling the carriage.

"What is that thing?" I asked turning to look at Luna.

She frowned looking around. "What, you mean the Thestrals?" Luna asked staring at the terrifying horse-like creature.

"Is that what they're called?" I asked taking in the creature. It was completely fleshless, the black coats clinging to its skeleton, of which every bone was visible. Its heads were dragonish, and its pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither — vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats.

"Yes, only people who have seen death can see them. And when I say 'see death' I mean see someone die not death himself." I gave Luna a queer look before turning back to look at the Thestral. Cedric. Because Lord Voldemort had murdered him in front of me I was able to clearly see the creature.

"Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" Ginny asked pulling me out of my thoughts. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"

"Til be quite glad if he has," Luna said absently, "he isn't a very good teacher, is he?"

"Yes, he is!" A hot flash of anger rushed through me and the words popped out before I could stop them. In fact I wasn't the only one who had said it, Ron and Ginny had too.

I turned and glared at Hermione who looked uncomfortable. She cleared her throat and quickly said, "Erm… yes… he's very good."

"Well, we in Ravenclaw think he's a bit of a joke," Luna said, looking around at everyone but me.

"You've got a rubbish sense of humor then," Ron snapped, as the wheels below us creaked into motion.

Luna frowned, shrugged her shoulders, then pulled the Quibbler back out and started to read. I frowned at her before turning to look out the window at the passing scenery. This wasn't what I expected... Not at all. Things were changing so fast it was hard to keep up with it all. I sighed leaning my head against the window, maybe things would slow down once we reached Hogwarts.

 **AN: Please Review! It helps so much more than you realize. Reviews make me happy and when I'm happy I think about the story more. The more I think about it the more I create new twists and turns for the story and I end up updating more. Which in the end makes everyone happy.**


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